Strata management is taking care of the financial, maintenance and administrative needs of a strata corporation. Our job is to provide support and guidance on behalf of the owners to protect the value of their home (investment). Strata management requires both the management company (brokerage) and the manager themselves to be licensed in B.C.
The job of a strata management company is extensive and includes:
Assisting with enforcement of rules and bylaws (if needed)
Strata managers are licensed to provide strata management services, which includes many aspects of property management. Rental property managers hold a different license. C&C specializes solely in strata management, to ensure we have no desire to rent out suites in your strata. Many large management firms are afflicted with this conflict of interest.
Owners elect a group of owners (typically 3-7 people) at every Annual General Meeting (AGM) to meet regularly and make decisions that are in the best interest of all owners. This includes financial statement review, invoice approval, maintenance of common areas and enforcement of the rules and bylaws. Being a council member is a very important volunteer position.
In BC, the Strata Property Act (SPA) provides the legal framework under which all strata corporations and strata owners must operate. Non-compliance places all owners at risk, including the risk of lawsuit. Your Strata Manager is knowledgeable on the workings of the Act and can advise your Council on it accordingly.
Responsive, Reliable, Flexible, and Trusted are hallmarks of the relationship between our strata managers and council. It is a very important relationship, and we care for your strata like it is our own. Our people receive training and ongoing support to ensure they provide our clients with the best possible service, and you always have access to our managing broker and accounting team if you need assistance.
We use Condo Manager as our accounting platform. The information is easy to read and makes reviewing monthly financial statements easy.
For accounts payable we use Sparcpay. It offers council (typically the treasurer and president) the opportunity to approve all invoices before they are paid, view any prior invoices, and it supports EFT payments which speeds up the payment process.
We will be implementing an online owner portal (e.g. for amenity bookings or fob purchases) by year end.
C&C is a family-owned mid-sized company with a long standing history in North Vancouver. You’ll find we’re big enough to offer you rigorous procedures and technology, yet small enough for personal attention and flexibility to meet your needs. You won’t get lost “in the big machine” at C&C; all clients have direct access to our Managing Broker their property accountant if they need.
We have a best-in-class accounting team, responsive and accessible strata managers, and we get stuff done.
The workload of a strata manager is significant and our managing broker works with both the manager and council to ensure the needs of the clients are being met. When we look at portfolio size we look at both the number of council meetings as well as buildings. Managers with smaller or less complicated buildings will typically have fewer council meetings than larger buildings with more council meetings. Our managers have between 60 and 70 council meetings per year.
Financial statements are delivered by the 20th of the month following. All are prepared on an accrual basis, and are reviewed by our Controller for quality assurance before distribution. Each package also includes a copy of each invoice paid, each cheque printed, a list of arrears, and the bank statements and their reconciliation.
All invoices are also viewable online at any time in our invoicing portal, including the audit trail of who approved them and when. For example, this can be useful for easily searching what a vendor charged for a service last year.
C&C has a group of very experienced team members and some who are newer to the industry. For example, two-thirds of our accounting team have over 10 years’ experience in strata while one-third are within their first five years. As for our strata managers, we have a range from new licensees to 20-year veterans. Frankly, we find ‘years of industry experience’ to be a poor indicator of manager quality. We have had 6-month rookies who outperform 20-year veterans. There are core skillsets that are more important than experience: organization, attention to detail, ability to communicate, and composure. Equally important, our Managing Broker has decades of experience and works closely with each manager 1-on-1 to ensure the team is supported – that’s one advantage of being a mid-sized boutique.
An annual seasonal maintenance calendar is a great starting point and something all stratas should have in place. We have a template that allows managers to track maintenance and work with clients to ensure the work is completed.
Further, we expect all managers to have an organizational system to track that action items are executed between council meetings. We believe you should be able to rest easy knowing directives agreed to at the last meeting will be complete before the next meeting without needing to ask “any update on that window cleaning?”.
C&C is the agent acting on behalf of the owners, at the direction of council. We execute based on council’s direction. We also ensure that council and committees have access to the guidance and expertise of our team, for example regarding compliance with the Strata Property Act or dealing with difficult owners.
Absolutely. C&C can assist with the administrative management of projects; it is also important to have subject matter experts assist with special projects. We would be happy to discuss your specific needs. Project support does come with an extra fee.
We have an after-hours call service available 24/7, and the strata manager is contacted for instructions if the issue cannot wait until the next business day.
Make sure to take things slowly as you do not want to make a decision that doesn’t meet your needs. Speak often with other management companies to ensure their values match your stratas. Ask for a demo of their technology. Check their Google reviews. Interview the managing broker to ensure the fit is good.
A signed agency agreement allows us to get started. We have a very experienced transition team who works with the outgoing management company, the banks, and the trades to ensure the hand-off is smooth. We open bank accounts, and ask the outgoing management company to release information to us, which the Strata Property Act requires them to do. We message the owners to ensure they have ample time to sign up for pre-authorized payments. Once management with C&C begins we collect the files and funds (post-dated cheques, if applicable) and set up the first council meeting.
The first council meeting allows the strata manager to meet council, explain our procedures and discuss how council likes to operate, learn about any ongoing maintenance or other items we need to carry forward, and get to know the nuance of the building.
Despite our best efforts, this does sometimes happen. We want to act quickly, while also ensuring your next manager is the right fit. Typically, you can expect a change within two weeks.
We are a locally owned company that believes in providing personalized service to each client. We have a best-in-class team that is dedicated to managing strata corporations. As a mid-sized firm with around 100 clients, we have the tech capabilities and rigorous procedures of a large company, but we avoid bureaucracy or treating our clients like a number. Our Managing Broker knows each and every client and is always available to them, which sets us apart from national or international firms.
We are in North Vancouver and service all municipalities in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley. We can also provide services remotely to any location in B.C. We have several happy clients that we service entirely remotely; it is particularly helpful to those in smaller cities with limited availability of high-quality strata management.
C&C is a great blend of very deep expertise and useful technology, and yet is small enough to provide boutique-level service. We spend significant time developing our people, and hold them to high standards; and ultimately, strata management is a people business. Visit they Why Us page to learn more.
The pricing is based on the needs of the strata corporation. A building with monthly council meetings will be priced differently from one with quarterly council meetings. Age of the strata, type of amenities, and complexity such as commercial/residential sections also impact pricing. We want to ensure we are charging reasonably and make sure we can pay our excellent staff fairly.